the other blog in this ol’ house

by bam

maybe it’s because we shared a glass. maybe it has something to do with sleeping on the same sheets for the past 18 months. (oh, i mean i changed the sheets and all, but even when i did our arms and legs were still stretched out on common threads). egad, we might have even touched. our toes, i mean our toes.

what’s happened, though, is most peculiar. i once resided with a fellow who harumphed at the notion of a blog. i still recall him–quite vividly, in fact–with his gray hooded sweatshirt pulled up and past his ears, sitting at the banged-up kitchen table one dreary weekday morn, spooning little Os into his mouth, while i pranced by with camera.

“i will not be blogged,” he bellowed. and i of course demurred. i’ve only once or twice trespassed across that line–and that was to make nice. and he, of course, responded with a mighty grin.

but now, it seems the anti-blogger has come around, crossed over to the dark side. why, even as i type, he is on a train tap-tapping at his keys.

stranger than fiction, truer than truth, we are now a two-blog household.

he of course is blogging boldly, about that thing he loves, the size and shapes of towers, and how we build our cities. i too write of that i love, the little things that unfold around us, our hearts, our souls, our wings, our stumbles.

seems he’s taken rather quickly to this whole new world of laying it on the line (he seems to lay it nearly every hour, on the hour). and seems the world is taking rather quickly, too, to every word he writes.

there is irony aplenty here, so much in fact, i need to scrape it off the walls. but i’ll leave all of that to your imagination.

i’ll offer these few points:

you’ll get a chuckle, yes indeed, at the fact that weeks ago he was moaning–over mashed potatoes, if i recall–that there might come a day when he’d get merely 10,000 to 20,000 hits.

i choked, i really did, nearly spit my spuds across the table. thought of all the mornings i arose before the rooster even crowed. i realized, i did, that in 18 months of all this finger exercise i’d only just barely scraped the 20,000 mark (and half of those i fear, were me simply clicking past the chair, on the way to other places).

in fact, just the other day, his first official day, he clocked a stunning 6,000-something clicks. i did a little checking, flipped through the pages of my calendar, where i confess i scribble all my clicks on the days that i hit “publish.” took me, for example, from aug. 24 to dec. 10–a full 14 weeks, or 76 meanders–to get that many clicks. and his were on the single day he launched, for cryin’ out loud.

oh, not that i’m comparing. not that i’m feeling one bit, um, overshadowed.

just that well, after all of this, i am now the other blog in this ol’ house.

mostly, i sit in pure amazement at the power of the internet, when it knows where to find you. i scratch my head, trying to figure out just why it is you and me might be the only ones who visit here today.

just a week or so ago, i was getting up at my most delicious hour–that would be five bells from the noisy clock downstairs–and the stretched-out someone right beside me, groggily inquired as i rose, “getting up to blog?”

it’s not every woman who can a.) take the dismal comparison, and b.) find something still to laugh about.

so there you have it.

fact is, i more than many on the planet understand the yins and yangs of feeding this here blogging beast. i know what it is to worry all the time, to wake up in a sweat, to wonder who might think that you’re a fool, and, worst of worst, what in the world will you do if, at any hour, the computer won’t turn on.

fact is, as always, he is doing a mighty job. i would not be lying if i said that long ago i fell in love, in part, with just how much he cares, and how triumphantly he makes it matter.

i worry of course that once again he works too hard. and frets too much.

of course, i understand the bumps and bruises, and the exhaustion to the point of flopping to the floor.

what i don’t get is how in the world can it be a bad day when you only get 10,000 hits?

dearly beloved loyal readers, bless you–all three of you–who continue to come back for more. ‘twas too tempting a morsel to pass up this chance to poke a little tease at me and my beloved blogger. here’s hoping it is tossed and caught in the same shared jovial spirit. truth is, in these fretful newsprint times, i stand up and applaud anything that draws a reader. and so i wish the hooded one smooth soaring to the highest heights. i’ll be here, holdin’ down the fort. a job i attempt to manage…..
p.s. the photo up above is the smiling picture of the author of the skyline, the latest blog wholly endorsed by the chicago tribune. they ran a lovely post about it earlier this week. seems they recognize a good thing when it’s in their grasp.

One Comment to “the other blog in this ol’ house”

sosser
you have me laughing in my computer’s face today, dear friend. oh, the irony! thanks so much for saying it just right. i needed that. (and bravo, blair!)
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 – 01:58 PM

TOB (the other blogger
ahem, it is said blogger, to whom you refer. first, i only wish i could write with such poetry as you. second, i have yet to get 6,000 hits–my best day was only 5,800 or so. third, i would LOVE to get 10,000 or 20,000 hits a day and i’m sure i never will. fourth, you are an amazing writer and soulmate.
ily,b
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 – 02:03 PM

bam
ahem, dear TOB, i am certain you only found this meander because someone clicked from here to you, and that made you wonder what the fuss was all about over on the chair. and hmm, i swear you hit 6,111 on day 1. but, who’s counting?????? in fact i have this little game i play when bored, i click over to you and click and click and click just to make your meter rise……or, i mean, go higher and higher. i want someone in this house to impress the mothership of ol’ colonel mccormick. since i certainly do not…….
and dearest sosser, congratulations! you win the i-was-on-the-chair-today sweepstakes, and for your prize, you get a personally autographed copy of………..the other blog!!!!!!!!!!!
stay tuned, i predict 10,000 by end of week. we’re rootin’ for you, TOB!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 – 02:48 PM

jcv
How can I not mention that photo. Love the photo.
I confess I did check out TOB yesterday. Lotta stuff over there, TOBer! Quite evident that piles of work have gone into this effort. We at the table all wish you well!
bam, I have merely dipped my toe recently into a yahoo group wherein all conversations are public to the group, and I admit, never have I felt dorkier, more ignorant, more vulnerable, and more jumped upon for a poorly chosen word……Well, it had to happen sooner or later. I am happy to come back here, and sit a spell.
Thanks for this table-sized table with sufficient chairs for a wonderful conversation, but not enough for terror of too-public exposure…….
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 – 03:16 PM

PJV
Oh, this is exciting news! Bravo Blair … I admit here and now that after my Chicago visit I raced to the computer and, with the help of Google, read some of your work. I am a lover of tall buildings … there’s something thrilling about standing at street level straining to see the tippy top of those magnificent structures. I get a charge out of hearing the back-story of what makes each special and unique.

Can bloggers co-habitate? Absolutely! I look at it this way … we (your loyal fans/readers) are doubly blessed!! Hmmmm … could a young photographer be next?
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 – 04:32 PM

bam
dear little company of puller-uppers, yes yes i love that we are so few we fit in that itsy-bitsy chair up there, the one i love, along with a whole dozen others, the ones that i should cling to on the days when i feel lonely. it is robust conversation here, and more than once i’ve loved that i felt safe here. in a world of harshness, and rampant cynicism, gosh, i can say the things i hold most dearly. and only sometimes hold my breath and fear that someone will laugh out loud, or call me queerhead. it is odd sometimes that i can meander through a whole real live day and feel more understood over here than anywhere else. i relish the back and forth with the brilliant lights who are you all……i sometimes wish we all lived on the same block with each bright cottage wrapped in picket fence, and swinging garden gate. oh, there i go, getting queer again……anyone got a cup o’ sugar i can borrow????? i am going to bake a towering skyscraper for TOB, the very minute he hits 10Gs.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 – 04:55 PM

vam
Okay, first let me call dearest bam ‘QUEERHEAD’ and get that out of the way, I already do the ‘laugh out loud’ thing……….yes, I have lots of sugar you can use for TOB’s tower and , ahem, a beautiful specialty bundt pan if you decide a whole ‘skyline’ is more in order………..you know, if you give the chair just a small bit of time to acquire a few comments, you find that after you read all that is posted you forget all the brilliant remarks you were going to contribute……old age? or motherhood? pick your excuse……….
while TOB’s blog may amass more ‘hits’, I can’t imagine all that architectural stuff spins hearts around the way both the chair ‘blogger’ and her contributers do……..okay, maybe the hardcore steel, concrete, i-beam types go through some gyrations, but really, lol …..and TOB if you’re reading this, just teasin’ b-i-l………………now, while i certainly can’t compare the careers in this household the way bam can in hers, i do so enjoy being the, hmmmm, ‘support behind the throne?’, the ‘wind in the sails?’, possibly the ‘fuel in the furnace?’…maybe i’m giving myself too much credit, but i like to think i’m, at least, a help………. to have a terrific sense of humor is a MUST ….i absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, your pre-dawn wit, bammalla, (bammalla?, okay now I’m the queerhead)…….. life is too short and, hey, why not enjoy all we’ve been blessed with?………… Many blessings to TOB (BK) and his new undertaking, and continued blessings to all the ‘little peoples’ here on the chair…………
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 – 07:30 PM

Haven’t been there yet, but that’s my next stop! I’m excited for you…way to go. We’re proud of you.

Bam, you have created a beautiful place my wife and I love to visit. That is an amazing feat. Architecture for the soul! PUAC has a warm-hearted, playful vibe, but the chairs can handle some heavy stuff as well. You are so dedicated to uplifting and affirming others, God bless you bam a million times for your dedication.

I see why your initials are bam!

And the middle 2 letters of your last name–HA!

pssst…
wind in the sails,
i love you forever…
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 – 09:06 PM

bam
hmm, welll, TOB is home now. out late at some high-brow talk, it seems. and, as i predicted, the ONLY reason he happened to wander over to the chair–where i was caught red-handed, typing all about his newfound blogging capacities–was that, yes, someone had linked from here to there and he has this high-tech, spy-finder sort of gizmo over on that there tribune-equipped blog, so, sure enough, it told him someone was spying from the chair, and he looked over to see why someone would be linking to there from here. and THAT is how he happened to take the rare peek at the chair. i know he usually doesn’t read….and i’ll have you know he now stands corrected: i was right about his first day, 6,108 hits. i was off by three measly clicks, not the 300 he claimed. seems maybe i am keeping more accurate count of these things. or maybe it’s just that i have this weird thing with my brain, i hear a number, it sticks. which is why i could probably still tell you my best friend’s phone number from when i was growing up.
and, ahem, mr. and mrs. windy sails, up above…….no kissy face on the chair. although blair, who read all comments, thought it was really sweet. he reminded me he’s often closed a note here–back in the old days when he read the chair—with his secret code: ily. can you guess what that means? geez, you are all so smart you’ll have the puzzle solved before i wake up and sign on again…..now, won’t you? okey doke. oh, by the way, when he and i looked at his little stats just now (the tribune sends these things, making it rather hard not to be sucked in to the obsessiveness of it all), he has a freakin’ 19,800 some hits since his blog started, what, officially three days ago, unofficially a few weeks ago. today alone he got 5,300 or something. but hey, i got 30-something…..
dear windies, i was just kidding. you can kissy face all you want. i was actually quite touched when i read that lovely line……what a world: we click on to a blog birthed 2000 miles away to tell the person in the other room that we love him or her. is this a country or what? g’night everybody. g’night TOB.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 – 10:46 PM

kissy face
pssst…g’night bam & TOB..

I just pictured your sweet home with words floating up from the chimney into the night air, words that go out to touch hearts and inspire minds and inform lives, but all at the speed of light.
Thursday, April 3, 2008 – 01:59 AM

bam
so dang, cute, that picture of the little love cottage with hearts wafting out the chimney….love the image, kissy face. hey, kf, folks are sending emails by the thousands (okay, so i got one) wanting to know who in the world is kissy face on the chair. you had the puller uppers stirring this morning, you really did. xoxoxox
Thursday, April 3, 2008 – 03:24 PM

bam
dang, again. TOB just came down the stairs carrying his laptop (provided by the big newspaper) to inform me that he just passed–as his FIRST WEEK draws to a close–my life time clicker total. meaning that in one week he’s had as many folks read his thoughtful blog as i’ve had here in 18 months….(probably more since my silly computer counts me whenever i open the computer; doesn’t seem to recognize me, the one who feeds it and changes it water bowl each day……) anyway, it’s official……he’s leaving me in the dust……b-bye!!!! so long….
Sunday, April 6, 2008 – 10:13 PM

pjv
Don’t dispair, dear bam … the Trib is a publication known far and wide so ‘hits’ are far more likely in that vast space (that’s not to say that they aren’t drawn to TOB’s writing in praise of those tall buildings). PUAC is a comfortable, front-porch sit-a-spell-‘n-spill kinda place. I like that, but … it WOULD be kinda nice for the ‘far and wide’ audience to come and sit with us awhile to see how truly blessed we are. The fare we dine on here is just so darn tasty ………
Monday, April 7, 2008 – 11:48 AM

MBW
BAM – no comparison with the other newly launched blog (although it was undoubetdly, inspired and mentored by PUAC) –

First, they are slinging chairs around on the other blog (I gave an opinion on previously mentioned blog and next response was to say that my comment was “melodramatic” – so – “Ouch”. Truly, I have never felt anything but safe on your blog.

Second, the Skyline is an open forum about our very public and deeply felt (all which is good) precious parks. Sadly, you do not get much of a response to these issues here in Philly – attitude here is “what ever.”
Chicgoans are different in terms of civic engagement and Skyline is delving literally into the fabric of our civic engagement in public spaces – use of park to build a new Children’s Museum. If you want to generate more hits (literally) – start talking about the renovattion of Soldier’s Field, reuse of Meigs Field, and building of a Children’s Museum next to Millennium Park.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 – 08:03 AM

bam
dear mb, and all, no one has ever sniped here, isn’t that amazing. yes yes, i love your analogy pjv, and we’ll take it. someone pass the lemonade, please…..it’s why i set out to create this space, because i believe a corner of this sacred world deserves to remain a sanctuary. the irony of course is and always will be that we use technology, and the latest advances of the internet, to go back in time and ethos, to slow the pace, to heighten the paying attention, to weave in the sacred when we see it, and to hope for light at every dawn.

trust me, i’m over the little twinge of my slow odometer not ever having a chance with the big tribune clicker. it was a bit of a gulp at first, back when i first heard mention of 20,000 hits a day, but i actually found it kinda funny when he officially passed me by in the first week. here we are again, the ones who take it slow and filled with grace. i kinda like the sound of these here porch chairs creakin’ as they rock away the day and night…..
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 – 09:00 AM